Kaempferia parviflora (KP) is an herb found in the north of Thailand and used as a folk medicine for improving vitality. Current reports have shown the anti-cancer activities of KP. However, the anti-cancer effects of KP on highly aggressive ovarian cancer have not been investigated. Therefore, we determined the effects of KP on cell proliferation, migration, and cell death in SKOV3 cells. Ovarian cancer cell line, SKOV3 was used to investigate the anti-cancer effect of KP extract. Cell viability, cell proliferation, MMP activity, cell migration, and invasion were measured by MTT assay, cell counting, gelatin zymography, wound healing assay, and Transwell migration and invasion assays, respectively. Cell death was determined by trypan blue exclusion test, AnnexinV/PI with flow cytometry, and nuclear staining. The level of ERK and AKT phosphorylation, and caspase-3, caspase-7, caspase-9 was investigated by western blot analysis. KP extract was cytotoxic to SKOV3 cells when the concentration was increased, and this effect could still be observed even though EGF was present. Besides, the cell doubling time was significantly prolonged in the cells treated with KP. Moreover, KP strongly suppressed cell proliferation, cell migration and invasion. These consequences may be associated with the ability of KP in inhibiting the activity of MMP-2 and MMP-9 assayed by gelatin zymography. Moreover, KP at high concentrations could induce SKOV3 cell apoptosis demonstrated by AnnexinV/PI staining and flow cytometry. Consistently, nuclear labelling of cells treated with KP extract showed DNA fragmentation and deformity. The induction of caspase-3, caspase-7, and caspase-9 indicates that KP induces cell death through the intrinsic apoptotic pathway. The antitumor activities of KP might be regulated through PI3K/AKT and MAPK pathways since the phosphorylation of AKT and ERK1/2 was reduced. The inhibitory effects of KP in cell proliferation, cell migration and invasion together with apoptotic cell death induction in SKOV3 cells suggest that KP has a potential to be a new candidate for ovarian cancer chemotherapeutic agent.

Clinical Characteristics of Gynecologic Cancer Patients who Respond to Salvage Treatment with Lingzhi Ganoderma lucidum;gynecologic cancer;salvage treatment; Lingzhi or Ganoderma lucidum is a popular medicinal mushroom used as a health promotion herb in China and other Asian countries for thousands of years. There have many previous studies about the anti-cancer effects of lingzhi especially in vitro. The present study reports the clinical data of 5 gynecologic cancer patients who achieved stability in the disease after ingestion of lingzhi in the form of fruit body water extract and spores in a salvage setting. This report has been written to enhance the data describing the effect of lingzhi in cancer patients.

The present study aimed to investigate the antibacterial activity of ethanolic Kaempferia parviflora extracts and the combined effects of the plant’s specific compounds with gentamicin against clinical strains of carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Acinetobacter baumannii. The minimal inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of gentamicin and Kaempferia parviflora extracts against the tested bacterial strains were determined by using broth microdilution. The combined effects of Kaempferia parviflora extract and gentamicin were investigated by using a checkerboard assay and expressed as a fractional inhibitory concentration index (FICI). Crude ethanolic extract of Kaempferia parviflora showed the lowest median values of MIC towards the tested isolates (n = 10) of these tested bacteria at doses of 64 µg/mL, compared to those of other Kaempferia extracts. Among the isolated compounds, only three compounds, namely 3,5,7-trimethoxyflavone, 3,5,7,3′4′-pentamethoxyflavone, and 5,7,4′-trimethoxyflavone, were identified by NMR structural analysis. According to their FICIs, the synergistic effects of gentamicin combined with 3,5,7,3′4′-pentamethoxyflavone were approximately 90%, 90%, and 80% of tested carbapenem-resistant Klebsiella pneumoniae (CRKP), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA), and Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), respectively. The present study concluded that 3,5,7,3′4′-pentamethoxyflavone extracted from Kaempferia parviflora potentiated the antibacterial action of gentamicin to combat bacterial resistance against the tested bacteria.